The Life of Nara Shikamaru
by scorpioslayer
Summary: After finding out that Shikamaru had found and read her diary, where she had confessed her love for him, Ino found it hard to face him now, especially with the fear of rejection in her head. So she came up with a plan...


Here is the sequel of The Diary of Yamanaka Ino! Yay it's finally finished! It's longer than I wanted, but I like it.

10,000 thanks to my beta reader, **Tarnished Secret**. You're the best.

Oh, to those who haven't read The Diary of Yamanaka Ino, don't worry if you don't want to read it. You will still understand the story...i think...no no hahah..kidding. you won't be confuse. but do read The Diary though if you like, and tell me what you think!

1, 000,000 thanks to those who reviewed the first story. Because of you guys, the sequel is up! yay!

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**Kissu Kisshu**:Thank you so much for your advice! It really help someone new like me.

**BlackFeatherz29**:I'm glad you didn't fall out of your chair too! Hehe...thanks for your comment!

**babykitty2270**: Haha...well now you can find out what happens!

**Li09**:Thanks! I'll try my best to keep it up! Ossu!

**Tench-Sama**: glad that you like it! The sequel is much more longer, hope you'd like it too!

**Chat-Chan**: OMG OMG OMG so happy that you like it! haha...I will try to write more, you can check out the other stories I made, hope you'd like them too!

**Allodoxaphobia**: whoa...your name is so hard to write. What does it mean? Yep, a beta-reader does that. Thanks for offering, but I've gotten a beta-reader already. I'll keep you in mind next time. Thanks again!

**kiteshuringan**: Glad that you loved it! Hope you'd like this one too!

**chi-chan** :I wrote a sequel! haha..no need to beg.

**Tarnished Secret**: Thank you so much for beta-reading! hugs. o.O it actually remind you of your life...ooooo...yeah you should leave a diary hanging around..then tell me what happens okay? please don't start crying though. haha..yeah i love ShikaIno too. I do write about them, drabbles that is. You can check my Soba ni Iru Kara story. And tell me what you think!

**twistedirony**: sweatdrops. you and your chocolate. no wonder you're getting round darling! well now you're not the only one to know what happens, sis!

**Emmer**: OMG, i'm gonna miss you so much! won't be able to see you anymore! promise to visit us okay, even though you're busy! haha..thanks for the review, sempai!

**Anata**: hey i like your name! Anata! Anata Anata! you you you! haha..sorry, a bit sugar high..yeah i think Shikamaru almost pee in his pants too when they burst in his room...ew...good thing i didn't write that, ne!

**Crystal Koneko**: haha..thanks!

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto, if I did, I wouldn't be writing a FANfiction now would I?

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**The Life of Nara** **Shikamaru**

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Yamanaka Ino was far beyond frustrated.

"WHERE IS IT!" she screamed, searching all over her room, pulling all her stuffed toys out from their display shelf, ripping apart her bed sheets, and throwing all the books out from their shelves.

"Not here, not here, not here!" she cried, panicking.

Her father, Inoshi, was trying to relax after coming back from a mission. When he heard the house shake, the first thing he did was he stand up, panic, and tells his wife that it was an earthquake.

When told that it was their daughter's screaming, Inoshi furrowed his eyebrows and went up to his daughter's room to tell her that if she screams more like that, she'll be sending her dear old father for a death call.

Inoshi opened the door slightly, taking it as a shield to protect him from whatever it was that his daughter could be throwing at him in her rage at this time. He had learned to do that after he opened the door fully for the first time when she screamed about Sakura being in the same team with Sasuke and a hairdryer flew out towards him.

Luckily for him, all of Yamanaka members were gifted with very thick skulls.

Inoshi took cover with the door, but this time only a pink bunny-with its arm pulled off-was thrown at him. "Ino-chan?"

And just like every time she'd start her tantrum, every time her father opened the door and called her name, she would start wailing and crying like he was going to scold her. Then Inoshi would feel sad for the girl and forgot to tell her that his heart was getting weaker with her screams.

Just like today.

"Aw, Ino-chan..." her father walked in the room where she was sitting on the floor beside her bed, dropping her head down on the bed. Inoshi looked at the room, and his eyes widened. It looked like a tornado had hit his daughter's room. Then again, his daughter **is** the tornado.

He sat on the bed beside Ino. "What's wrong?"

She was still covering her face in the bed, and mumbled something.

"Huh?" Inoshi asked. Ino pulled her head up and looked at her father, at the verge of crying.

"Oh daddy," she whimpered and hugged him.

At the age of almost 16, where it was the time their hormones to kick everywhere, and when they find everything in the world, even their parents, were against them, Ino wasn't like that...Well mostly.

No, she was still daddy's little girl and her dad was the one she would go to when she's sad, when she wants anything or whenever she needed help or advice.

Don't get it wrong, Ino loves her mom and she was close to her mom too, but her dad was the one who pampered her the most, spoiled her and her mother would just rolled her eyes and laugh.

"I lost the book," she told him sadly.

"What book?" Inoshi asked, patting her back.

"My diary," she sobbed. "I can't remember where I put it, and then when I looked for it, it was gone,"

"Don't worry, Ino, I'm sure you will find it." He said, running his hand through his daughter's silky hair.

"But dad, what if someone found it and reads it?"

"This is a ninja village, Ino-chan. Everyone has their pride. If they find the book, they'll return it to you and they won't even read it. They know it's private property, so they'll return it." Inoshi said. Ino smiled softly, taking in what her father had said, and a small light of hope appeared.

Inoshi looked at the ceiling, "Hm…unless it's one of your friends," Inoshi said and missed out on the shocked look on Ino's face.

He continued, "Oh, I bet they would read it, oooh, especially if you wrote your deepest darkest secret in it!" Ino's face turned to horror.

Inoshi looked at his daughter, "Eh, what's wrong Ino-chan?" he asked confused.

"AHH!" was what he got as a reply and his wife had to speak loudly to him for the entire morning since he couldn't hear anything correctly; his eardrums were numbed after he received his daughter's scream from such a close distance.

xxx

Ino walked into her still messy and disastrous bedroom and closed the door behind her. She had had a very bad day today.

First thing in the morning, she had lost her diary, to where she had fully admit her love to her teammate, her best friend, and one of the youngest Jounin, Nara Shikamaru.

And then, finding out that he himself had found her book and she caught him reading it in his room, at the page where she had confessed.

"Ugh," Ino said, plopping herself down on her bed. She closed her eyes, trying to forget today's event.

After she had screamed at her father—it wasn't intentional, she swore when her mom came in to find her husband half deaf—she had found out from her parents that the Nara family had invited her family and Chouji's to their house for a dinner together.

It lightened up her mood, even after knowing she had lost her treasured diary, but going for dinner with the Nara and Akimichi, that means she could spend quality time with her teammates, and especially Shikamaru, after not being able to with his examiners' works.

When she and Chouji arrived, they decided to surprise Shikamaru—who was upstairs in his room, his mother told them—but when they got there to surprise him, it backfired on her when she found him reading her diary.

What happened then was a blur, she remembered screaming at him and throwing everything in his room at him, before her father came up and held her back. Then, feeling embarrassed with herself as she was acting rudely, she excused herself, muttering words of apology to the Naras and running out.

She had never felt so embarrassed with herself. Not only because of her bad manner, but because now Shikamaru was aware of her feelings. She doesn't know how to face him now, how to react to what he says, or how to be herself with him around anymore.

And to top it all off, she still hasn't gotten her diary back.

What shall she do now? Should she go there and confess to Shikamaru? What if he doesn't like her back? She doesn't think her heart can take another rejection. Or much worse, what if he's in love with the Sand girl, Temari?

She has to do something. Shikamaru knows of her feelings now, and knowing him, he would probably come and see her and tell her that he doesn't like her. No, she won't take that answer. She's sick of being rejected.

No, Ino will do something. She will do something to make Shikamaru like her, so she won't have to face rejection. And if he likes Temari, she will do something to prevent that. She's Yamanaka Ino; she's capable of doing anything when she sets her mind to it. And she won't lose and give up easily!

She won't lose Shikamaru to Temari!

Yeah!

…Only, now, she doesn't have any idea how to do it. She was clueless, her brain too clouded with the image of Shikamaru reading her diary.

Ino groaned and covered her face with her pillow as she heard the front door opened and closed. Great, her parents are back from the dinner. Now, her mother is coming up to lecture her about her behavior.

"This is soo troublesome!" she said to herself as she heard her mom slamming open her door.

Then an idea struck Ino. Her mom was scolding her then, telling her how embarrassing it was for her to act that way in somebody's house and just walked away, but Ino wasn't listening. Her mind was thinking off all the things she could do with her idea right now.

Suddenly Ino smiled, Shikamaru will surely be hers—

— And got more scolding from her mom, when the older Yamanaka noticed her daughter's sudden smile; and she began screaming at her daughter, angry that the younger Yamanaka wasn't paying any attention.

Inoshi stuffed the cotton in his ears, he was almost deaf this morning, and he doesn't want it to be permanent this time. He had always wondered where Ino had gotten her bad temper, and now he knew.

Xxx

Ino decided to leave the house earlier that day. An early walk can help clear her head right now, and maybe she could reason herself again as to why she wants to do this and face humiliation to herself.

Besides, today she has to go help decorate the party they were throwing for their old Academy teacher, Iruka-sensei. It was his birthday and they were throwing him a surprise party at the Academy.

It was a nice, sunny Sunday and there would be no class anyway.

Upon reaching the Academy, Ino took a deep breath, steadying herself. Once she walked in the place, she had to launch her plan. She had to be brave; if she wants to win Shikamaru, she has to do this!

Even if she has to embarrass herself in front of everyone.

_I can do this! _

She walked in into the classroom, their old classroom, where everyone was—well, all of the girls, except for the noisy Naruto—putting up balloons, ribbons, and other decorative stuff.

"Ohayou, Ino," Hinata greeted her. Ino looked at the Hyuuga girl and gave a small smile.

"Hey."

"Ino-pig!" she heard Sakura call her. Ino clenched her fists, fighting the desire to call her the "large forehead girl", when she remembered her plan. Shikamaru doesn't call her that.

That's right, Ino's brilliant plan was to **act **just like Shikamaru.

Ino looked at Sakura, with her forced lazy look, "Nani?" she asked, faking bored. Sakura looked at her and blinked. She was expecting Ino to scream at her, but that wasn't what she had gotten in reply.

"I-," Sakura said awkwardly and Ino was enjoying seeing the weird look her friend was having at the moment. "I-I wanted to ask you what you brought,"

Ino handed her the paper bag with the decoration stuff she had brought. "Aah, you can look in here," she said. Sakura took the bag and raised an eyebrow.

"Ino, are you okay?"

Now how would Shikamaru reply this? Ino looked at her, her face still had the lazy look, Aah…" she replied.

_Shikamaru always look at the sky_. Ino turned her head and looked at the sky, and sighed.

"Are you really okay? You're not acting yourself," Sakura asked, getting worried.

Ino looked at her, her face still lazy and now a bit annoyed, just like Shikamaru would look. "Hai hai, I'm okay. Jeez, why are you asking? You're so troublesome・

Sakura's eyebrow went up. Went really, really up.

Then she looked at the blonde kunoichi. "Right, I'll go give this to… uh, whoever who needs this..." she said and hurried away. Ino snickered to herself.

_Success!_

Now, what would Shikamaru do? Ino closed his eyes, imagining her teammate. Got it! Ino looked around and spotted the blonde shinobi, sitting on a table, blowing up balloons. She walked up to him, slowly.

"Oi, Naruto," she greeted him.

Naruto looked at her from the balloon he was blowing. "Hey, Ino," he said, tying up the balloon.

"What are you doing in here? With all the girls?" she asked, sitting on the chair in front of him. Shikamaru likes to sit with the chair backwards, and so she did.

Naruto gave her a weird look, like she was some kind of an alien. "I- I want to help out with the decoration, that's all," the blue eyed replied.

Then Ino saw his eyes sparkled, "Besides don't tell this to Sakura-chan..."

Ino nodded, she was eager to know, but she kept her face casual, "Nani yo?"

Naruto pulled a huge balloon from under the desk and showed it to her, "It's a water balloon, for the "sit under the balloon until it pops" game later on. But it's no ordinary water balloon. I've put some leftover ramen inside here, so whoever is unlucky to sit on this—"

But Naruto didn't had time to finish his sentence, when he—who was about to laugh, imagining about his trick—had dug his long, unclipped nails on the balloon and it popped.

And being the one sitting in front of Naruto and the one in front of the balloon when it popped, it was all over Ino. The cold water and the limp noodle, that is, were covering and wetting her clean, make-up face and her perfect hair.

Ino looked at Naruto, sending murderous looks and aura at him as she wiped the water and the noodle off of her face. Naruto gulped. _That wasn't supposed to happen,_ he thought. Cold sweat ran down his face as he waits for his punishment from the blonde kunoichi.

Everyone was looking now; they've heard the popped sound and saw Ino, all wet with noodles all over her. They saw Naruto in front of her and knew he must have caused it. They all watched in silence, sensing the murderous aura, waiting for the kunoichi to take actions.

Ino was boiling inside. How dare he! Her perfect make-up! Her soft, silky hair! It's all ruined! He was going to get it! Ino raised her clenched hand up to her face. Then she heard the door to the classroom slammed open and somehow she knew it was **him**.

_Kuso_! She can't hit Naruto now! She was supposed to carry out her plan today, show it in front of everyone, especially him! She can't fail!

_Take a deep breath, Ino! _She inhaled deeply and slowly put her hand down by her side.

"What you do that for Na-NARUTO!" she asked, trying to be as lazy and trying to calm herself, through angry, gritted teeth. Naruto looked at her, frightened, his face turning blue.

"Go-go-gomen! Gomen!"

Ino took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. _Relax, Ino. You_'_re_ _supposed to act like Shikamaru now. _She faked her face into a lazy and annoyed look. "Tsk. Now I've gotta change." She said, looking at her wet clothes. Ino rolled her eyes, "This is so troublesome," she said quietly, but Naruto's eyes widened when he heard it.

Ino walked down the stairs from where she was, ignoring the look everyone was giving her. She was enjoying this actually, seeing their scared, shocked, confused looks. She walked towards the door and saw Shikamaru standing there. So she was right, he was there. Good thing she didn't lose it.

He was looking at her, the dumbfounded, confused look was shaped on his face too as she walked past her, she not daring to say anything for the memory of the diary came haunting her and Ino quickly fastened her pace.

xxx

She came to the party later on, when it had actually started. She had to go back home, ignore the gasp her mother gave, take a shower—the noodle was really disgusting—and change her clothes.

Since her usual outfit was wet, and the other same ones were being washed, she had no choice but to put on a simple T-shirt and jeans.

She had washed her hair three times to get the smell off and had it blown dried perfectly just as it was before. And this time, she put on water-proof make-up, just to be on the safe side.

When she got to the Academy again, later on that day, she decided to continue with her plan. She went to her old teacher, acting like nothing had happened, hugged him and handed him her present.

Naruto was avoiding her, she could tell, because when she went near Iruka-sensei to wish him well, he made a quick excuse and got away.

Those who were in the room earlier were giving her weird looks, as if she was drunk, or had mutated another head.

During the party, she was quiet, sitting down next to a window and staring out at the sky. She saw Shikamaru sitting with Chouji, talking and munching on some chips. Ino sighed; that means she has to eat that junk food too.

It wasn't like she was obsessed with being thin, no, not anymore. After learning that her feelings for Sasuke were over, she didn't really care about being thin. Besides, when she was obsessed with it, she had even gone as far to be a bulimic. Luckily it was Shikamaru who helped her out of it.

But eating junk food, no, that was like a sin. It's not about being thin anymore; it's about keeping her figure and being healthy.

Besides, she read the contents of those junk foods, and it made her shivered.

She only ate a small piece of pizza and a few chips that she found was quite okay. It wasn't cheesy, or salty, or too much seasoning in it. It was plain, quite okay and…crispy and delicious.

Ino admitted it, it was delicious. She looked over at her teammates and widened her eyes when she saw how much Chouji was eating. Ino thanked the stars that it wasn't Chouji she was in love with.

She caught Shikamaru looking at her a few times, but she looked away, staring back at the sky. Then he walked up to her, and she pretended like nothing had happened, like he hasn't found her diary and read it, like she hadn't thrown something so heavy on his forehead that he needed to have bandages wrapped around it.

"Hey," he began, standing in front of her, hands on his pocket.

"Hey," she replied, drinking her punch, trying to prevent herself from going red. "Sorry about yesterday, running off like that, and what did I throw at you?" she asked hurriedly, not looking at him in the eyes.

She was too embarrassed to do so.

"It was a footstool," he said.

"Oh," she replied, embarrassed.

"Listen, Ino," Shikamaru begun, looking at his feet. "About yesterday…"

She didn't let him finish, she doesn't want him too. She knows what he's gonna say, and she doesn't want to hear it.

Ino stood up and cut him off, "Look, they're gonna sing Happy Birthday now," she said pointing to Sakura and Naruto who were carrying the cake. She ran off to where the crowd was now, leaving him behind.

Ino hesitated. Sure, now she doesn't have to talk to him. But a new problem arose as they began to sing the song. Should she eat the cake? There's too much cream on it, sugars too, and eggs, and those chocolate rice too.

Everyone was passing the cake around, and she hasn't gotten hers, but she saw Shikamaru had and was eating his, looking bored as usual.

Then her plate came and Ino's eyes almost came out of its sockets.

It was the biggest piece, and she felt her knees becoming jelly. Why must her piece be the biggest? It even had the whole whipped creams on it, and even though it had a strawberry, it was covered in sugar dipping!

Ino sighed; she had no choice but to eat it. If she wants to follow with her plan, she must act just like Shikamaru would. She picked up her plastic fork. She tried to ignore Sakura's babbling to Naruto about her being on diet and passing him her piece of cake, only eating the sugar dipped strawberry alone.

Damn, if she was really like herself right now, she would've given the cake to Chouji. Who, by the way, was staring at her, having finished with his piece and staring at hers. "Ino, are you gonna eat that?" he asked.

Ino nodded. "Yeah."

Chouji nodded. "Well, can I have the rest of it?" He asked, thinking that she was only gonna take a small bite of it.

Ino shook her head. "No, I'm eating the whole thing," She said as she stuck her fork through the spongy cake and ate all of it.

IN. ONE. GO.

Asuma choked on his punch.

Chouji's jaw dropped.

Shikamaru's eyes widened.

Sakura's mouth hanged open, showing the half chewed strawberry. _Ew_…_yuck!_

Naruto's two plates fell on the ground.

Akamaru barked.

Kakashi looked up from his perverted novel.

Iruka looked up from cutting the cake, wondering what had happened.

Ino finished chewing and stared at all of them. It was too quiet. She liked the look they were giving; if she could she'd start laughing; they looked too funny when they're dumbfounded.

But unfortunately, she had to place her lazy, annoyed look. "Nani yo?" she asked.

They all were startled—well most of them, except for Kakashi who was reading the book, Iruka who was clueless, Shino and Neji, who don't even know how to react—and looked away, mumbling something that sounded like, "I-I...,"

If Sakura has an Inner Sakura, then at this moment, Inner Ino was doubling over in laughter, with whipping cream all over her mouth while the real Ino was giving out a bored look.

Ino felt guilty to herself, for eating that much for a day. She's so not gonna eat dinner! But truthfully…she hasn't tasted such nice and wonderful cake after a long time.

Xxx

The whole week had been weird for her. She had gone on with her plan, embarrassing herself most of the time too.

Like getting scolded from her mom in front of her customer when the customer asked her to arrange the flowers she had picked into a basket, she gave the old woman a lazy and an annoyed look and said "troublesome" right in front of her face. Her mother had heard her and scolded her right that moment.

Then she had tried to get along with Chouji.

She knew Chouji was Shikamaru's best friend, and she was always being mean to the younger Akimichi. So she tried to not to act like herself, holding back all those remarks she usually make, and tried to be nice with him.

It went really okay.

Chouji looked at her like she was mad, but after that they were cool. She even bought a bag of barbeque chips to share with him, deciding it probably wasn't best if she bought 99 low fat chips. Besides, she had seen Shikamaru buying it once for Chouji, so she knew which one to get.

After that it was Asuma-sensei.

The old her was always complaining and shouting about everything. But the new her was quiet and lazy. Every time they met for training she'd put on the lazy mask, telling him she wasn't in the mood and just stared at the sky. Then when they met for their usual eating out, she'd eat more than the normal Ino would.

Then she decided one day that she would play shougi.

Yes, Yamanaka Ino, knew this was what Shikamaru would always do and decided to try it out.

She had seen her dad play a few times and she knew a few rules.

So the first person—and the last one too—she thought she'd play with was Asuma.

When she told him she wanted to play with him, he looked at her, checked her forehead for a fever and stared at the sky wondering if it was going to fall.

She had lost even before she could blink. Asuma was nice enough not to say anything about her easy defeat.

Ino sighed; it was Sunday again. For the whole week, she tried to be like Shikamaru, hoping he would like her. And she avoided him too, every time he began about what happened on "that night".

She was scared to hear what she knows he was going to say. Being rejected by Sasuke almost tore her apart; she can't imagine what this one would feel like.

There was still one thing about Shikamaru that she hasn't tried out.

She had wanted to try it for the whole week, but it was always raining, and she was always be busy at her family shop, she had no time to do it. She tried firstly with her roof, climbing it up at night in her pajama, staring at the stars.

It was okay.

But now it's the last task. If she did this, then she'd have done every thing Shikamaru does. And during this time, she would decide to continue doing this, listen to Shikamaru no matter how it's going to break her, or try out a new tactic, like trying to seduce him, running around the village naked, or force him to marry her.

Ino looked at the clearing in front of her. It was a nice view of the village from here. It was windy and the sky looked so clear. All of it made her relaxed.

Now came the part for Shikamaru's famous cloud watching session.

She had come earlier than when Shikamaru would, hoping to avoid clashing with him.

Ino just stood there, watching the sky and the village. She was too scared to lie down. Who knows whatever things would creep inside her clothes?

The last time she sat down on the grass watching the stars with all the other Genins, she had gotten very bad rashes on her legs and her body felt itchy.

A strong wind passed by, sweeping her hair harshly, tousling it all up. Ino sighed and ran her hand over her hair, trying to smoothen it. She felt something wrong with her hair, like something was missing.

Then it hit her, just as her hand ran through her left side of hair and felt the cold metal barrette on her hair. She ran her hand through her right side of hair, but she didn't feel the barrette.

Ino sighed; Damn, she lost the hairclip.

She squatted down on the ground, trying to look for her white, sparkly barrette. It was a present from Shikamaru on her 14th birthday and she rarely used it, only for special occasions since it was so beautiful.

She didn't want to ruin it.

"Kuso, where is it!" she said to herself, as she moved around all down on her four, looking for the lost thing. The wind couldn't have blown it that hard…right? Ino sighed and looked at the sky, tired after the unsuccessful search.

One cloud passed by, and to Ino, it looked like a pair of ballet shoes. The cloud was so fluffy, nice and white, care free and so…pure.

Ino sighed, "I wish I could be like a cloud," she said absent-mindedly.

"Wow. You've really mastered to be like me," another voice said.

Ino's body tensed up when she heard the voice. She knew the voice very well; she didn't have to look to know who it is.

It was Shikamaru.

Ino turned her head around and saw the Jounin standing behind her, looking at her straight in the eyes.

Ino stood up quickly. "Shikamaru! W-What are you doing here?" she asked, surprised, face turning red.

Shikamaru shrugged. "To watch the clouds, you?"

Ino tried to calm herself although her little Inner Ino was going crazy. "I-I-I-I'm looking for my barrette," she told him and went back down on her knees, looking for the said thing.

It wasn't long before Shikamaru joined her on the ground. "The one I gave you?" he asked, looking around.

Ino was startled. "Aah..." she said quietly, turning her head away from him.

"Ino," she heard him call. Ino stopped moving and waited for him to talk again, not daring to look at him, show him her red face. "Is everything okay?" he asked.

Ino kept looking through the grass blades, trying to keep herself busy.

"Yeah, everything's fine…" she lied. She kept looking at the grass blades and suddenly noticed a pair of sandals in front of her. Ino looked up.

Shikamaru was standing in front of her.

"Then why aren't you acting like yourself this past week?" he said, squatting down in front of her, his face blank of expression.

"Or more specific, why are you acting like me?" he asked, smirking at her.

Their faces were so close apart; the little Inner Ino started screaming. Ino's face started going red when he asked her and smirked. He looked so sexy and she would've start swooning, if the conditions were different.

Ino turned around, she couldn't take it anymore, and he was driving her mad. She wanted to slap herself, to stop herself from blushing and snapped out of it, but she couldn't because he was grabbing her hand.

Ino turned to face him. He looked at her, his face bored, no real expression on it. "Are you gonna answer me?" he asked. Ino tried to free her hand, but his grip tightened.

Ino winced. "There's nothing to answer," she said and slapped his hand to let her go.

Ino stood up, ready to leave. Forget about the barrette, she needs to get out from here. She needs to go anywhere where he and the thought of him wouldn't interrupt her.

But she couldn't move.

She wanted to turn around to know what was happening, but she couldn't. Then it hit her, he must've use the Kagemane on her.

"Shikamaru, let me go," she said almost pleadingly.

"No, not until I get to talk to you; you've been avoiding me the whole week," he said and made her turn around to face him. "Now, I want to talk to you about something…" he began, rubbing the back of his neck and watched her follow his action.

Ino knew what he was gonna say, but she wasn't ready. No, she hasn't prepared herself to be rejected again.

"About what happened last week…" he started. "When you found me reading your diary…"

She couldn't look at him; she doesn't want to see his sorry, sympathetic face telling her he doesn't like her. No, she doesn't want to hear it!

"When you caught me then, I wanted-" Shikamaru stopped and looked at Ino when she cut him off, her eyes meeting his.

"Stop Shika." She pleaded. "Don't—Don't say it. I know it already," she said, feeling herself shaking.

Shikamaru looked at her, confused. "You know what?" he asked.

It was the time she would let it all out. She couldn't keep it any longer.

"I know you're gonna say, "Sorry, Ino, but I don't like you". I know that Shika, no one ever likes me, not Sasuke, not you. I've been broken once and I still am, so please don't say the words and make me break into smaller pieces." There were tears on her face.

It was at the moment, he released her shadow. Ino slumped herself on the ground, wiping the tears away.

"So why did you act so different this week?" he asked her.

"I dunno. I wanted to make you like me. I don't want to face another rejection, it's painful. I thought if I act like you, you would've eventually liked me back. But I know that won't happen. It was such a stupid plan. I always make stupid plans." She clenched the grass blades in her hands.

"I won't deny that it was a stupid plan," he said, walking towards her.

"And you do always make the stupidest plans. You think I would've fallen for you if you acted like me?" he asked

Ino didn't reply. She didn't want to.

Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his temple. "You're really troublesome ne…" he said and squatted in front of her. He cupped her face to meet his.

"You don't have to be me to make me like you," he began and for the first time, she saw the red creeping up on his face and for the first time, felt there's hope for her after all. "I already like you for who you are."

Ino looked at him, surprised. She blinked her eyes and studied his face. He looked just as red as she must have been now.

Suddenly Ino laughed, making Shikamaru looked at her weirdly. "Oi Ino, are you okay?" he asked, worriedly.

Ino didn't reply him, but her actions showed him that she was.

She jumped and hugged him, toppling both of them together on the ground. Shikamaru turned a deeper shade of red, "I-Ino!"

"Oh, Shika, I've been too stupid," she said, hugging him tightly. She was on top of him, but she didn't really care then.

"Gerroff me," Shikamaru said quickly, too embarrassed by their closeness. Ino laughed and got off him.

They sat on the ground, beside each other. Shikamaru pulled out something from his pocket. "Here, this belongs to you," he said, giving her, her old diary back.

Ino took it and smiled. "Thanks," she hugged the book to her chest. _My diary!_

There was an awkward silence for them then, and Ino couldn't take it.

She was happy, jovial, relieved, all happy feelings flooding to her brain, there were too much of it, she felt like she would explode.

Shikamaru liked her.

He liked her.

HE LIKED HER!

"So, Shikamaru…" Ino started.

Shikamaru turned his gaze away from the clouds and looked at her, "Hm?"

"Since when you, you uh…" she couldn't bring herself to say it, her face already red thinking about it.

"Liked you?" Shikamaru finished her sentence, watching her blush and nodding quietly, "Um…can't remember," he said, too lazy to tell her it had been 6 years, 7 months and 22 days already.

Then Shikamaru pulled something from his pocket that he had just found earlier.

He leaned over and placed the barrette back on her hair. Shikamaru smiled. "You're the first Ino and still is, not Temari, okay?" he said, remembering what she had written in her book.

Ino smiled and took his hand and placed it against her cheek. "You may not be my first Shikamaru, but you're my truest one." She grinned.

Shikamaru looked at her, letting her caress his hand. "That's good enough for me." He smiled and continued, "So, Ino, how was it like being me?" he grinned.

Ino shrugged. "It was okay,"

Shikamaru looked at her, raising his eyebrow and smiled. "Let it out Ino," he told her. Ino looked at him, her eyes shining, just like the way he liked them.

"Really?"

Shikamaru nodded.

"Oh Shika, it was horrible! I couldn't scream at Naruto for what he did to me. I had to wash my hair three times you know! Three! Then I had to eat all those chips with Chouji, and when I checked my weight, guess what? I've gained two kilograms! Then shougi with Asuma…Oooh... That was horrible! I can't understand a thing about it…and then, yeah, then I tried acting lazy like you and keep saying "troublesome" until I said it in front of a customer and mom scolded me right on that spot!"

Shikamaru blinked. Ino was talking fast, like her usual self. He didn't know if he should be happy that she's back to herself or be sad that she didn't find the way of his life interesting.

Then Ino gotten quiet and suddenly she hugged his arm, leaning her head on his shoulder. Shikamaru looked at her, surprised with her sudden action, but liking it.

Somehow, he liked her to be this cuddly with him.

She looked at the sky and he did the same. "But you know what; I kinda like your life. I don't really like being lazy, but it was nice once in a while. And it had been such a long time since I tasted cakes and chips. And this," she said, letting out a long sigh, "This, your cloud watching session, this is way nice."

Shikamaru smiled, "Glad you like it," and they stayed that way until the sun came down and he walked her back home. And that how it was, no romantic proclamation or anything, he knew she loves him, and she knew so does he.

And that was enough.

xxx

"It has been too quiet, isn't it?" Inoshi started. "I actually managed to finish reading the newspaper," he said. His wife rolled her eyes.

"That's because your beloved daughter is not feeling well."

"Why... What's wrong with her?" he asked, face blank.

"Don't play with me Inoshi; you know very well what's wrong. Why can't you just accept that Ino has a boyfriend now for over a year already? You should bless their relationship; he's your friend's son."

His wife said, putting the cup of tea in front of her husband.

"I like Shikato's boy, it's just I don't think my little baby is ready for a relationship," he said, sipping his tea. The woman rolled her eyes.

"She's 17, and in a few more years, she'll be married and leave this house,"

"Yes, I am aware of her age, but see what happened to her now?

Locking herself in her room for more than a week already, not eating, and sobbing every night? I say she's not ready," Inoshi huffed.

"That's because Shikamaru has been away on his mission for far too long now. Ino's worried."

Inoshi was about to reply when they felt the house shook, "AHHH!"

Inoshi and his wife looked at each other, "She's your baby girl, go see what's wrong," she told him.

Inoshi, not needing having his wife telling him this, was already half way up the stairs towards their daughter's bedroom.

When he got there, he did the same thing he does whenever Ino started screaming. Opening the door slightly, he peeked inside the room, trying to see how upset his daughter was.

But what awaited him was something he didn't expect at all. He felt like his heart dropped to his feet when he felt the pang of realization hit him, telling him that his little girl wasn't so little anymore.

He accepted his daughter's relationship now, knowing that she wasn't the young girl anymore, and that she was blossoming into a beautiful flower.

But what was happening in front of him was something that he could never forgive.

Indecent behavior, under his roof too!

Inoshi slammed opened the door, his body filled with rage. The two teenagers who were making out on the bed—one who was still in his Jounin uniform, back after his mission, Inoshi bet, and the other one whose hair and clothes were now in a mess—looked at him, beyond surprised.

Inoshi's face turned red, veins popping in his forehead. "INO! SHIKAMARU! GET OFF THE BED NOWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

This time, Ino's mom had too stuffed her ears with the cotton, making a mental note this time to tell her husband that their daughter's short tempered side didn't come from her alone.

xxxEndxxx

* * *

This time, the ending is for real! Unless you want me to write another sequel to this... 

ehem..anyway, do review and tell me what you think! They really make my day. Hope you enjoyed this just as much as I did writing it.

Oh, merry christmas to all! And have a happy new year. I know I won't have one, haha..It just means that my O-Level is getting closer...sigh. TT

okay, click the button now! Go!


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